Republican Support for LSC
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CONSERVATIVE BIO
Robert Alphonso Taft was a conservative
US Senator from Ohio from 1939-1953.
He was the elder son of William Howard
Taft (27th President & 10th US Supreme
Court Chief Justice).
Taft was the Senate's main opponent
of President Franklin Roosevelt's New
Deal domestic policies. After FDR’s death,
Taft successfully led the conservative
coalition's efforts to curb labor unions.
Taft battled NY Governor Thomas E.
Dewey (leader of the moderate "Eastern
Establishment") for control of the party.
LSC SUPPORT
Bipartisan legislation, called the MondaleSteiger bill, had been introduced in March
1971 to create a legal services entity.
Republican Sen. Robert Taft Jr. said in
support of the proposal, “I feel that our
society today has come to recognize, on a
far broader basis than ever before, the
desirability and necessity of providing
adequate legal remedies to all our citizens
for wrongs, real or imagined, for the full
exercise of rights they have under the law;
and I think the bill goes a long way in that
direction.”
U.S. Senator Robert Alphonso Taft
Nixon practiced law in California and
subsequently served on active duty in
the U.S. Navy Reserve during World War
II.
Nixon was a U.S. Representative and
Senator from California prior to serving 8
years as Vice President and then being
elected as President in 1968.
Nixon employed conservative
speechwriter Pat Buchanan, chose the fiery
Spiro Agnew as his running mate, and
trumpeted his anti-Communist credentials.
U.S. President Richard Nixon
In his early years, US Congressman
William Albert "Bill" Steiger represented
Wisconsin at Boys Nation and later became
a businessman.
Steiger sponsored the Older Americans Act
of 1965 and the Steiger Amendment of
1978 reducing the capital gains tax.
While a Congressman, in 1969 he employed
the future Vice President Dick Cheney as an
intern.
U.S. Congressman William Steiger
His son, William R. Steiger, worked for
Governor Tommy Thompson of Wisconsin
and later as the Director of the U.S. Dept. of
Health and Human Services Office of
Global Health Affairs and Special Assistant
to the Secretary for International Affairs.
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President Nixon asked to continue the
Office of Economic Opportunity Legal
Services Program appropriations. For 4
hours Nixon personally labored over the
language of his bill proposing the Legal
Services Corporation.
Nixon described federal legal services as “a
workhorse” in securing equal rights, “Here
each day the old, the unemployed, the
underprivileged, and the largely forgotten
people of our Nation may seek help.
Perhaps it is an eviction, a marital conflict,
repossession of a car, or misunderstanding
over a welfare check—each problem may
have a legal solution. These are small
claims in the Nation’s eye, but they loom
large in the hearts and lives of poor
Americans.”
In March 1971, Congressman Bill Steiger
introduced legislation to create a legal
services entity.
Steiger’s bill had over 100 co-sponsors
between the House and Senate versions,
with about a third of those being
Republicans.
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CONSERVATIVE BIO
Two months before his nomination by
President Nixon to the U.S. Supreme Court
in 1971, Lewis Powell, then a corporate
lawyer and member of 11 corporate boards,
wrote a memo to his friend Eugene Sydnor,
Jr., the Director of the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce regarding the American
economic system being under broad attack.
U.S. Supreme Ct Justice Lewis Powell
The Powell Memorandum influenced the
Chamber and corporate activists to create
institutions designed to shift public thought
over time. The memo influenced or inspired
the creation of the Heritage Foundation, the
Manhattan Institute, the Cato Institute,
Citizens for a Sound Economy, Accuracy in
Academe, and other powerful organizations.
During the Second World War, Javits
served with the Chemical Warfare Service
during 1941-1944, with overseas service in
the European and Pacific Theaters. He was
discharged as a lieutenant colonel in 1945.
Javits joined the Republican Party in a
favorable response to Fiorello La Guardia
and against Tammany Hall's scandal. He
was elected to the Senate in 1956 where he
served until 1981, following terms of
service in the House of Representatives and
as New York Attorney General.
U.S. Senator Jacob “Jack” Javits
A lawyer who had for years represented
business clients, Javits advocated against
government regulating business too much,
which he felt the Democrats supported.
The National Rifle Association (NRA)
gives him an A- and the American Civil
Liberties Union (ACLU) gives him a 0%.
During the Bush administration, US
Congressman Wolf voted consistently with
the President’s positions, including voting
for military action in Iraq, to make the
Patriot Act permanent, to oppose requiring
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
warrants for wiretaps within the United
States, and to restrict congressional
oversight for CIA interrogations.
U.S. Congressman Frank Wolf
Wolf voted against funding for both
Planned Parenthood and international
family planning, and he believes marriage
should be between a man and a woman.
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LSC SUPPORT
In an oral history at the National Equal
Justice Library, former LSC Board Member
F. William McCalpin recalled the
importance of Lewis Powell’s support for
legal aid,
“Everybody from Sargent Shriver down
thought that it was extraordinarily
important that the American Bar
Association get behind the legal services
program, that it would give it a credibility
and an acceptance around the country that
it wouldn’t otherwise have…. There isn’t
any question that while, I guess, the
Cahns and Shriver can claim to be the
parents of the federal legal services
program, Lewis Powell has certainly got
to be the godfather.”
The Mondale-Steiger bill, a bipartisan
legislation, had been introduced in March
1971 to create a legal services entity.
Senator Javits was part of the effort to
resolve differences over the legislation and
approved the LSC legislation in 1974.
The new law declared that Congress had
found “there is a need to provide equal
access to the system of justice in our
Nation” and that “there is a need to provide
high quality legal assistance to those who
would be otherwise unable to afford
adequate legal counsel.”
Congressman Wolf spoke in opposition to
an amendment in 2013 that would have
eliminated all funding for LSC, and a
proposal to cut the LSC’s budget to $200
million.
On LSC’s 40th anniversary, he said on the
House floor that “the LSC fills a critical gap
by providing low-income Americans with
legal assistance they wouldn’t otherwise
have access to. I want to commend the LSC
and the attorneys working in our
communities for the work they do every day
on behalf of Americans who need qualified
counsel.”
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CONSERVATIVE BIO
As a long-term member of the Education
and Labor Committee, Congressman
Erlenborn consistently took positions that
favored the interests of business and
management. He opposed bills to increase
the minimum wage, fought the creation of a
consumer protection agency and attempted
to strip the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission of any enforcement authority.
U.S. Congressman John Erlenborn
During the Carter administration, practicing
what he called “filibuster by amendment,”
he presented dozens of riders and repeatedly
ordered roll call votes to kill or delay the
creation of the Department of Education,
which he thought would lead to “more
federal domination” of schools.
Senator Hatfield was on President Nixon’s
short list for vice president.
Hatfield was pro-life on issues of abortion.
As governor, Hatfield chose not to commute
the sentence of a convicted murderer and
allowed that execution to go forward.
Hatfield often sided with his party on
environmental and conservation issues,
supporting increased logging on federal
lands.
U.S. Senator Mark O. Hatfield
An attorney, Jenkins was Executive
Director of the West Virginia State Medical
Association and taught business
law at Marshall University.
Jenkins served in both chambers of
the West Virginia Legislature in Charleston
over the course of 20 years, having been
elected as a member of the House in 1994,
and elected to the Senate in 2002.
U.S. Representative Evan Jenkins
On switching parties to become a
Republican in 2013, Jenkins stated that,
“West Virginia is under attack from Barack
Obama and a Democratic Party that our
parents and grandparents would not
recognize." In 2014 he defeated 38-year
incumbent Democrat Nick Rahall.
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LSC SUPPORT
While in the House, Congressman
Erlenborn supported the 1974 legislation
establishing the LSC as an independent
funding mechanism for legal aid
programs, opposed President Reagan’s
efforts to abolish the corporation and
voted against many restrictions on
activities of legal aid lawyers (supported
legal aid programs 29 times out of 44
House votes on LSC legislation from
1973 to 1984).
Congressman Erlenborn served as a board
member for the LSC from 1989 to 2001.
During President Reagan’s second term,
Senator Hatfield spoke in favor of
confirming all eleven of the President’s
nominees, and acknowledged, “I trust that
today’s vote will mark the beginning of a
renewed commitment by both the Congress
and the Legal Services Corporation Board of
Directors to ensure that our nation’s poor
have full access under law to comprehensive
and effective legal services.”
In 1995, as chairman of the Senate
Appropriations Committee, he offered a
proposal to replace Legal Services with a
$210 million legal aid block grant program
for the states, as an amendment to a draft
spending bill that proposed to eliminate any
federal role in providing legal services.
For Roll Call Vote #275 on June 3, 2015,
Congressman Jenkins opposed an
amendment to cut LSC By $25 million.
In 2015 and 2016, Congressman Jenkins
was exceedingly cordial to the American
Bar Association’s delegations during the
fly-in, pledging support for the Legal
Services Corporation in accordance with his
voting record.
Congressman Jenkins is now the Vice Chair
of the Commerce, Justice, Science
Appropriations Subcommittee which funds
LSC.
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CONSERVATIVE BIO
LSC SUPPORT
In 1972, Domenici became the first New
Mexico Republican to be elected to the
position in the U.S. Senate in 38 years.
Senator Domenici has been a strong
supporter of increased funding for legal
aid for much of his career.
As Chair of the Energy Committee and of
the Energy and Water Appropriations
Subcommittee, Senator Domenici strongly
advanced the cause of nuclear energy.
In 1996, when it was proposed in
Congress that the LSC should be
eliminated, Domenici stepped in to help
craft a compromise to ensure a survival
of the LSC.
Domenici was singled out as “Worst in the
Senate in 2006” on environmental issues for
spearheading efforts for oil and gas
legislation. He had also previously
promoted mining legislation.
He stated, “I don’t think American
justice could be considered justice if the
poor and those of moderate means had
no real access to legal representation.”
U.S. Senator Pietro “Pete” Domenici
Senator Rudman favored tax cuts, reduced
domestic spending, and higher military
spending.
His best-known legislative effort was the
Gramm-Rudman Act, the first binding
spending constraints on the federal spending
budget.
He served on a national panel investigating
the threat of international terrorism prior to
the September 11 attacks.
He served as Senator John McCain’s
campaign chair in McCain’s 2000
presidential campaign.
Senator Rudman has frequently complained
about the LSC board’s hostility to legal
services, and worked to help maintain “a
balanced approach” to legal services.
In defending the LSC, he said that
complaints that legal services lawyers were
still involved in politically motivated suits
were out of date since Congress had placed
appropriate limits on such work. He further
acknowledged that as a former state
Attorney General, he was often sued by
legal aid attorneys in New Hampshire, but it
was always proper.
U.S. Senator Warren Rudman
Congressman Ramstad was an officer in the
United States Army Reserve from 1968 to
1974.
He also worked as a private practice
attorney and as a legislative aide to
the Minnesota House of Representatives.
He was a Minnesota State Senator for a
decade before serving 18 years as a U.S.
Congressman.
He opposes gay marriage.
U.S. Congressman Jim Ramstad
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Congressman Ramstad opposed to cuts in
LSC funding in 1999.
Congressman Ramstad warned, “Without
adequate funding for legal services, our
poorest, most vulnerable citizens will be
unable to have legal representation in civil
matters. ‘Equal Justice under the Law,’ a
statement seen by Americans every day on
the Supreme Court building, will be empty
words.”
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CONSERVATIVE BIO
Shelby switched his party affiliation to
Republican one day after the 1994
Republican Revolution which won control
of both houses in the midterm elections.
Shelby denounced the Clinton budget as
"high on taxes, low on [spending] cuts".
Shelby co-chairs the Congressional Privacy
Caucus, Zero Capital Gains Tax Caucus,
and the National Security Caucus.
U.S. Senator Richard Shelby
In February 2010, Shelby placed a hold on
more than 70 of President Obama's
nominees to various government posts, in a
protest over an Air Force KC-135
Stratotanker contract and the FBI's Terrorist
Explosive Device Analytical Center.
Congressman Aderholt was endorsed by the
NRA in the 2010 general election.
Aderholt signed the Americans for Tax
Reform’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge,
refusing to raise taxes on any tax bracket.
In December 2011, he voted in support of
the “Regulations From the Executive in
Need of Scrutiny Act” which would have
required congressional approval for any
“major regulations”’ issued by the executive
branch.
U.S. Congressman Robert Aderholt
He is opposed to abortion and same-sex
marriage, and has received high ratings
from the Traditional Values Coalition and a
score of 0 from the Human Rights
Campaign on its Congressional Scorecard.
Before Congress, Cole was Chairman of the
Oklahoma Republican Party.
Widely regarded as one of the GOP’s top
political strategists, he served as Executive
Director of the National Republican
Congressional Committee in the 1992 cycle,
Chief of Staff of the Republican National
Committee during the 2000 cycle in which
Republicans won the presidency, the Senate
and the House for the first time in 48 years.
In the 2008 cycle, Cole served as National
Republican Congressional Committee Chair.
U.S. Congressman Tom Cole
Congressman Cole serves as a Deputy Whip
for the Republican Conference and is a
member of the Republican Steering
Committee.
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LSC SUPPORT
As Chairman of the Commerce, Justice,
Science Appropriations Subcommittee
which funds the Legal Services
Corporation, Senator Shelby achieved
increases of $10 million dollars in two
consecutive years—FY2015 and FY2016.
In the FY2017 bill that his committee
passed unanimously, Senator Shelby
proposed a third consecutive increase of
$10 million dollars, but the bill became
swept up with all other appropriations
bills in a continuing resolution at level
funding minus an across-the-board cut of
0.19%.
For his efforts, Senator Shelby was
awarded the ABA Justice Award in 2017.
Congressman Aderholt took to the floor in
support of LSC on a measure that would
provide $350 million for the LSC in
FY2015.
He said, “Throughout my time in Congress,
I have supported Legal Services for
Americans who would not otherwise have
adequate access to civil legal assistance,”
and urged Congress to recognize the
compromise between the need for austerity
and the balance to provide civil legal
assistance to low-income Americans.” The
measure passed by a vote of 321-87.
In 2015, Congressman Cole received the
American Bar Association’s Congressional
Justice Award for his long-standing, staunch
support for LSC.
On LSC’s 40th anniversary, Congressman
Cole said on the House floor, “LSC-funded
legal aid programs make a crucial difference
to millions of Americans by assisting with
the most basic civil legal needs.”
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CONSERVATIVE BIO
LSC SUPPORT
As Chairman of the House Appropriations
Committee, his focus is on reducing the size
and scope of the government by reining in
federal spending and conducting rigorous
oversight of federal agencies.
In 2011, Congressman Rogers
announced a mere $75 million reduction,
although later increased to $85 million,
in LSC funding, notwithstanding
pressure to zero out the program.
He has led the Congress to reduce
discretionary spending by a historic amount,
cutting $165 billion in discretionary
spending since 2010.
Later in 2015, Congressman Rogers
supported a $10 million increase to LSC
funding for FY2016.
In 1959, he was commissioned an Ensign in
the U.S. Naval Reserve and later completed
his tour of active duty in the Navy.
In 2009, as ranking member of the Senate
Appropriations Committee, Senator
Cochran approved $400 million in funding
for LSC in FY2010.
U.S. Congressman Harold “Hal” Rogers
Senator Cochran has supported measures to
reduce spending, control debt, and maintain
a strong national defense.
As a member of the Defense-Appropriations
Subcommittee, Cochran has worked to
ensure that the U.S. Armed Forces remain
the best trained and equipped in the world.
In 2015, as Appropriations Committee
Chairman, Cochran approved $385 million
for the LSC, representing a $10 million
increase.
U.S. Congressman Thad Cochran
Congressman Culberson identifies as a
fiscally conservative, “Jeffersonian
Republican,” and is committed to the vision
of limited government, individual liberty,
and states’ rights.
In Congress, his priorities are restoring the
10th amendment, cutting taxes, and securing
the border.
As a member of the House Appropriations
Committee, he was able to rein in federal
spending and promote less federal
regulation and more local control.
U.S. Congressman John Culberson
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In 2009, Congressman Culberson expressed
support for the LSC and said LSC provides
“an absolutely essential service and one that
we need to continue to fund.”
Again in 2015, he acknowledged that LSC
attorneys performed a valuable service.
As Chairman of the House Commerce,
Justice, Science, and Related Agencies
Subcommittee, he approved a $10 million
increase in LSC funding for FY 2016.
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CONSERVATIVE BIO
Neil Gorsuch was the first child of Anne
Gorsuch, who ran the EPA in the early
1980s under President Ronald Reagan.
A conservative voice at Columbia
University and Harvard Law School, he
went on to success at a Washington, D.C.,
law firm before briefly working at the U.S.
Department of Justice.
Named to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Tenth Circuit in 2006, Gorsuch established
himself as an originalist and supporter of
religious freedom in his opinions.
Judge Neil Gorsuch
In January 2017, he was nominated to the
U.S. Supreme Court by President Donald
Trump.
Antonin Scalia was a U.S. Supreme Court
Justice member born on March 11, 1936, in
Trenton, New Jersey.
He was a practicing lawyer in the 1960s,
and then worked in public service in the '70s
with roles in President Richard Nixon’s
general counsel and as the Assistant
Attorney General.
In the '80s he became a part of President
Ronald Reagan’s Court of Appeals.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Antonin Scalia
In 1986, President Reagan nominated him
as Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme
Court, serving in that capacity until his
death on February 13, 2016.
On his 18th birthday, Bush enlisted in the
U.S. Navy, becoming the youngest pilot in
the Navy during World War II. He served as
a combat pilot in the war, flying carrierbased torpedo bomber aircraft and a total of
58 combat missions.
Bush had a brush with death when his plane
was hit during a bombing run in the Pacific.
After managing to escape the burning
aircraft, he was quickly rescued by a U.S.
Navy submarine. Bush was awarded the
Distinguished Flying Cross for his WWII
service.
U.S. President George H.W. Bush
George H.W. Bush was elected to the U.S.
House of Representatives. He was Ronald
Reagan's VP & the 41st President.
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LSC SUPPORT
In his 2016 law journal article “Access to
Affordable Justice,” U.S. Supreme Court
nominee Neil Gorsuch wrote, “Legal
services in this country are so expensive
that the United States ranks near the bottom
of developed nations when it comes to
access to counsel in civil cases.”
Judge Gorsuch said in his March 21,
2017, confirmation hearing, “It is a fact that
too few people can get lawyers to help them
with their problem… What we are seeing
today is the explosion of pro se—that is,
filings by the person without a lawyer… I
do think access to justice in large part
means access to a lawyer. Lawyers make a
difference. I believe that firmly…what a
difference a lawyer can make.”
Scalia stated, at the 40th anniversary of the
Legal Services Corporation, “I'm here
principally to show the flag, to represent the
support of the Supreme Court and I'm sure all
of my colleagues for the LSC… The
American ideal is not for some justice, it is,
as the Pledge of Allegiance says, ‘Liberty and
justice for all’ or as the Supreme Court
pediment has it, ‘Equal Justice.’ I’ve always
thought that’s somewhat redundant. Can
there be justice if it is not equal? Can there be
a just society when some do not have justice?
Equality, equal treatment is perhaps the most
fundamental element of justice. So, this
organization pursues the most fundamental of
American ideals, and it pursues equal justice
in those areas of life most important to the
lives of our citizens.”
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CONSERVATIVE BIO
As elected delegate to the 1967–1968
Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention,
Thornburg spearheaded efforts at judicial
and local government reform. President
Nixon appointed Thornburgh U.S. Attorney
where he earned a reputation as being tough
on organized crime. President Ford tapped
him as Assistant Attorney General for U.S.
Department of Justice. During his two terms
as governor, Thornburgh balanced the
budgets for eight successive years, reduced
taxes, cut debt, left a surplus, pursued
economic development and welfare reform,
and reduced unemployment drastically.
U.S. Attorney General &
Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburg
President Reagan appointed Thornburgh as
U.S. Attorney General, and he continued as
such under George H.W. Bush.
LSC SUPPORT
Thornburg was a founder of Pittsburgh’s
Neighborhood Legal Services Ass’n and
was part of LSC’s pro bono task force.
Thornburg wrote on 3/5/17, “[O]ur civil
justice system cannot work for lowincome individuals and families unless
we adequately fund programs to provide
them with lawyers at a time in their lives
when basic human needs are at stake… I
am calling upon members of Congress
from Pennsylvania to ensure that the
LSC continues to provide critical support
to legal aid programs… The families
who benefit from legal aid are our
neighbors. Fairness in the justice system
should not depend on how much money
a person has… Learned Hand…said:
‘Thou shalt not ration justice.’”
After undergrad at Yale, Bush served as
a pilot in the Texas Air National Guard.
After Harvard Business School, he founded
and ran an oil company.
After working on his father’s successful
presidential campaign in 1988, he partnered
with a group to buy the Texas Rangers
baseball team and became the managing
general partner.
Thereafter Bush served two terms as
Governor of Texas followed by two terms
as President.
U.S. President George W. Bush
Congressman Frelinghuysen has voted with
the Republican Party 90% of the time from
the 104th Congress thru the 113th.
Frelinghuysen has worked to lower taxes
and provide for a strong national defense.
He earned the “Hero of the Taxpayer”
Award from the Americans for Tax Reform,
as well as praise from the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce, the National Association of
Manufacturers and the National Federation
of independent Businesses.
U.S. Congressman Rod Frelinghuysen
He created a record as one of the most
fiscally conservative members of the New
Jersey General Assembly.
He chairs the Appropriations Committee.
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Congressman Frelinghuysen took to the
floor of the U.S. House of Representatives
to speak in opposition to an amendment to
cut $1 million for LSC from the Hurricane
Sandy Disaster Relief Appropriations Act
of 2012.
He received the American Bar
Association’s Congressional Justice
Award in 2013 for his efforts.
At the awards dinner, Frelinghuysen
stated, “I’ve been a strong supporter of the
Legal Aid Corporation for years. Not
everybody can afford legal counsel to
look after their rights, to protect their
rights. It was the right thing to do, and I’m
proud to have been involved in it.”